What keeps the planet spinning; the force from the beginning

August 15, 2013

“What keeps the planet spinning; The force from the beginning” ~ lyrics from this song

I was so fortunate to have amazing partners with me as we created Spunlogic. The photo above is the four of us – myself, Raghu, Danny and Raj – getting pied in the face at one of our company holiday parties. Without this team there is no way we would have grown Spunlogic the way we did and had a successful exit in 2008, selling the company to Engauge. And certainly Engauge wouldn’t have had the success it has had – selling to Publicis Groupe yesterday – if the majority of this group hadn’t stayed over the last five years to help grow the business and keep the culture intact (Danny has since left and created Proving Ground).

The importance of the founding team of a company cannot be understated. If that team is the kind of team you want – hard-working, balanced, passionate, collaborative – they can accomplish anything. Likewise, if that team is dysfunctional, inadequate, or on different pages, they can all but ensure that a startup will not be successful.

But its that initial inertia, that force from the beginning, that comes from the founding team of a company that is usually the difference between the success or failure of a startup.